“This is strategically a very important transaction for us, as it increases our strength in the respiratory segment, with the addition of Ventilators to our portfolio,” Vishwaprasad Alva, managing director of Skanray, said.

According to the company, respiratory ailments are on the rise and some of the biggest pandemic outbreaks in the recent past like avian flu have seen hospitals fall short of ventilators.

The company sees business from government epidemic and disaster management departments in several developed countries which are planning to buy large volumes of ventilators in case any pandemic outbreaks.

“With this addition, we will be able to offer complete ICU packages for hospitals and be a single point contact for supply, custom solutions and life cycle management of all equipment in the ICU,” Alva said.

This is the second acquisition of the company in as many years. Last year it acquired medical equipment business of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) through its fully owned subsidiary Skanray Healthcare.

Between Skanray Healthcare and Skanray Technologies, the group has 12 USFDA approved products in segments such as X Ray imaging, vital sign monitoring and surgery devices. The company plans to launch more products in the US and European markets.

“We started the healthcare business to use the synergy of the core technology that Pricol has in embedded hardware and software, mechanical subsystems, engineering plastics and systems integration. We are happy to transfer the healthcare business to Skanray who are growing aggressively in the primary healthcare segment,” said Vikram Mohan, MD of Pricol.

Skanray Technologies, which was set up in 2007, specialises in high frequency X-Ray imaging systems, critical care devices and primary healthcare & telemedicine-compatible devices.

The company recently raised $14.7 million from Ascent Capital. It has also raised an undisclosed amount from Arun Kumar, promoter of public listed pharmaceutical company Strides Arcolab.